Swift 3.0 on Raspberry Pi 2 and 3

June 17, 2016| Joe| 39 Comments| 7:27 PM

Categories:

There are a number of people working to bring Swift 3.0 to as many ARM-based systems as possible. This article is specifically about getting Swift 3.0 for your Raspberry Pi 2 or Raspberry Pi 3 that is running Ubuntu 16 (Xenial Xerus). It has not been tested for Raspbian variants (and likely doesn’t work).

A fair warning: support for Swift 3.0 on the Raspberry Pi (and all ARM devices) is still beta. Use it for prototyping and proof-on-concept work rather than building a product with it. Also, if you’re interested in joining the community of folks working on getting Swift 3.0 for ARM devices, come join us on Slack!

Xenial on a Raspberry Pi

You might not have even known Xenial for the Raspberry Pi existed; I didn’t! To grab it head over to the Ubuntu Wiki and get the distribution for your Pi. You will want to use at least an 8G SD card.

Install Swift 3.0

The team working on Swift for ARM is using Jenkins to build the Raspberry Pi binaries natively on a Raspberry Pi 3. As in, this is the build machine!

For the curious check out the Jenkins build project. Quite frankly, I’m amazed that it only took 6 hours to compile Swift.

Now, on your Raspberry Pi, grab and extract the Swift 3.0 build artifact into a directory and set your PATH with something like:

cd $HOME
wget http://swift-arm.ddns.net/job/Swift-3.0-Pi3-ARM-Incremental/16/artifact/swift-3.0-2016-07-19-RPi23-ubuntu16.04.tar.gz
mkdir swift-3.0
cd swift-3.0 && tar -xzf ../swift-3.0.tgz
export PATH=$HOME/swift-3.0/usr/bin:$PATH

cd $HOME

wget http://swift-arm.ddns.net/job/Swift-3.0-Pi3-ARM-Incremental/16/artifact/swift-3.0-2016-07-19-RPi23-ubuntu16.04.tar.gz

mkdir swift-3.0

cd swift-3.0 && tar -xzf ../swift-3.0.tgz

export PATH=$HOME/swift-3.0/usr/bin:$PATH

Note: You aren’t tied to putting Swift 3.0 in $HOME, I typically use /opt/swift/swift-3.0.

Now, let’s give it a spin!

Create a file called helloWorld.swift:

print("Hello, world!")

1	print("Hello, world!")

You can use swift helloWorld.swift to execute the file like a script:

# swift helloWorld.swift
Hello, world!

Or, you can compile the file into an executable with swiftc if you have clang installed and configured properly:

# swiftc helloWorld.swift
# ./helloWorld
Hello world!

If swiftc failed with error: link command failed with exit code 127 there’s a good chance you don’t have clang installed and configured properly:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y libicu-dev
sudo apt-get install -y clang-3.6
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang clang /usr/bin/clang-3.6 100
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang++ clang++ /usr/bin/clang++-3.6 100

Let’s look at a few other tidbits:

Importing `Glibc` works!

swiftcat.swift:

import Glibc

guard CommandLine.arguments.count == 2 else {
  print("Usage:  swiftcat FILENAME")
  exit(-1)
}

let filename = CommandLine.arguments[1]

let BUFSIZE = 1024
var pp      = popen("cat " + filename, "r")
var buf     = [CChar](repeating:0, count:BUFSIZE)

while fgets(&buf, Int32(BUFSIZE), pp) != nil {
  print(String(cString:buf), terminator:"")
}

exit(0)

import Glibc

guard CommandLine.arguments.count == 2 else {

print("Usage: swiftcat FILENAME")

exit(-1)

}

let filename = CommandLine.arguments[1]

let BUFSIZE = 1024

var pp = popen("cat " + filename, "r")

var buf = [CChar](repeating:0, count:BUFSIZE)

while fgets(&buf, Int32(BUFSIZE), pp) != nil {

print(String(cString:buf), terminator:"")

}

exit(0)

Compile (swiftc swiftcat.swift) and run (swiftcat)!

Bridging to C routines

Linking against compiled object files works!

escapetext.c:

#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <curl/curl.h>
int escapeText(const char* text, char** output) {
  int rc = -1;
  CURL* curl = curl_easy_init();
  if (curl) {
    char* escaped = curl_easy_escape(curl, text, strlen(text));
    if (escaped) {
      *output = (char*)malloc(strlen(escaped) + 1);
      strcpy(*output, escaped);
      curl_free(escaped);
      rc = strlen(*output);
    }
  }
  return rc;
}

#include <string.h>

#include <stdlib.h>

#include <curl/curl.h>

int escapeText(const char* text, char** output) {

int rc = -1;

CURL* curl = curl_easy_init();

if (curl) {

char* escaped = curl_easy_escape(curl, text, strlen(text));

if (escaped) {

*output = (char*)malloc(strlen(escaped) + 1);

strcpy(*output, escaped);

curl_free(escaped);

rc = strlen(*output);

}

return rc;

}

escapetext.h:

int escapeText(const char* text, char** output);

1	int escapeText(const char* text, char** output);

escapeswift.swift:

import Glibc

guard CommandLine.arguments.count == 2 else {
  print("Usage:  escapeswift STRING")
  exit(-1)
}

let string = CommandLine.arguments[1]
var buffer:UnsafeMutablePointer<Int8>? = nil

let rc = escapeText(string, &buffer)

guard rc > 0 else {
  print("Error escaping text")
  exit(-1)
}

if let escaped = buffer {
  let escapedString = String(cString:escaped)
  print("Escaped text:  " + escapedString)
}

exit(0)

import Glibc

guard CommandLine.arguments.count == 2 else {

print("Usage: escapeswift STRING")

exit(-1)

}

let string = CommandLine.arguments[1]

var buffer:UnsafeMutablePointer<Int8>? = nil

let rc = escapeText(string, &buffer)

guard rc > 0 else {

print("Error escaping text")

exit(-1)

}

if let escaped = buffer {

let escapedString = String(cString:escaped)

print("Escaped text: " + escapedString)

}

exit(0)

Compile and link everything together:

# clang -c escapetext.c
# swiftc -c escapeswift.swift -import-objc-header escapetext.h
# swiftc escapeswift.o escapetext.o -o escapeswift -lcurl

And run:

# ./escapeswift "foo > bar"
Escaped text:  foo%20%3E%20bar

Swift Package Manager

Unless you enjoy writing makefiles and build scripts (and trust me, some do), the Swift Package Manager is here to help manage software package dependencies. We’ll be writing more about the SwiftPM available in Swift 3.0, but are excited to provide a version that works on armv7 devices. Try this out:

# mkdir finalCountdown && cd finalCountdown
# swift package init --type executable
Creating executable package: finalCountdown
Creating Package.swift
Creating .gitignore
Creating Sources/
Creating Sources/main.swift
Creating Tests/

Replace the contents of Sources/main.swift with

import Foundation
import Glibc
let thread = Thread(){
  print("Entering thread")
  for i in (1...10).reversed() {
    print("\(i)...", terminator:"")
    fflush(stdout)
    sleep(1)
  }
  print("\nExiting thread")
  print("Done")
  exit(0)
}
thread.start()
select(0, nil, nil, nil, nil)

import Foundation

import Glibc

let thread = Thread(){

print("Entering thread")

for i in (1...10).reversed() {

print("\(i)...", terminator:"")

fflush(stdout)

sleep(1)

}

print("\nExiting thread")

print("Done")

exit(0)

}

thread.start()

select(0, nil, nil, nil, nil)

Now, run swift build to build your finalCountdown application:

# swift build
Compile Swift Module 'finalCountdown' (1 sources)
Linking .build/debug/finalCountdown
# .build/debug/finalCountdown
Entering thread
10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...
Exiting thread
Done

moreswift

For a random smattering of Swift 3.0 applications that have been run on both x86 and armv7 systems, check out the moreswift swift-3.0 branch.

What Version Is This?

The current builds available are not tracking the Swift 3.0 preview builds. To determine the Git hashes associated with the swift binary, type swift --version:

# swift --version
Swift version 3.0-dev (LLVM eb140647a6, Clang a9f2183da4, Swift bb43874ba1)

You can then, if you so choose go directly to the Swift repository commit with something like https://github.com/apple/swift/tree/bb43874ba1 to see the history beginning with the last commit incorporated into the build.

Acknowledgements

A lot of people have been apart of the effort to bring Swift to Linux ARM devices. This list is just a few of those individuals. Please do visit their blogs; there is a wealth of information and learnings therein.

William Dillon (@hpux735) http://www.housedillon.com
Ryan Lovelett (@rlovelett) http://stackoverflow.com/users/247730/ryan
Brian Gesiak (@modocache) http://modocache.io
Karl Wagner http://www.springsup.com/
@tienex tienex
PJ Gray (@pj4533) Say Goodnight Software
Cameron Perry (@mistercameron) http://mistercameron.com

raspberry pi swift 3.0

39 thoughts on “Swift 3.0 on Raspberry Pi 2 and 3”

David G says:

June 20, 2016 at 2:13 AM
Hi,

I followed your instructions and I get the following error at trying “Hello, world!”
```
pi@RPI3B-1:~/swift-3.0 $ swift hellowWorld.swift 
swift: /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libstdc++.so.6: version 'GLIBCXX_3.4.21' not found (required by swift)
swift: /lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libtinfo.so.5: no version information available (required by swift)
```
I have tried the sudo apt-get install libstdc++6 and it said that I had the newest version.

Not sure where to go from here. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks for the article and your work.

Dave
Reply
1. Joe says:
  
  June 20, 2016 at 5:54 AM
  
  David: were you using Ubuntu Xenial or Raspbian Jessie (lsb_release -a will tell you)? The binary is only compatible with Ubuntu Xenial.
  
  Reply
  1. Victor says:
    
    July 6, 2016 at 8:34 PM
    
    I’m getting same error on Raspbian.
    
    Out of curiosity: what makes it harder to compile and run Swift on Raspbian in comparison to Ubuntu Xenial?
    
    Reply
    1. Joe says:
      
      July 7, 2016 at 10:39 AM
      
      Howdy Victor – I don’t recall the technical reasons why Raspbian caused issues – if you take a look at our post http://dev.iachieved.it/iachievedit/building-swift-3-0-on-a-raspberry-pi-3/ you can use these instructions to try building on Raspbian. If you get it to succeed I’d be interested in knowing!
      
      Reply
      1. Victor says:
        
        July 7, 2016 at 10:41 AM
        
        Thanks for the link, Joe. I’ll give it a try.
2. AleyRobotics says:
  
  July 28, 2016 at 5:50 AM
  
  To get it work you need replace “jessie” by “stretch” at /etc/apt/sources.list file.
  then “sudo apt-get update”
  and the last step is: “sudo apt-get install gcc-5”
  
  Reply
David G says:

June 20, 2016 at 5:01 PM

Hi Joe,

In my exuberance, I somehow totally missed that minor detail! That’s the problem.

Thanks.

Reply
javacom says:

June 20, 2016 at 7:59 PM

Thank you for porting swift 3.0 to Raspberry Pi. Swift PM works. However, it seems that the “Dispatch” module is missing in the package.

Reply
1. Joe says:
  
  June 20, 2016 at 10:34 PM
  
  That’s correct; as of June 21, 2016 libdispatch has not been delivered as a part of the Swift 3.0 release on Linux (it is present on OS X). This is irrespective of architecture. If you take a look at the libdispatch note on Swift.org there is a reference to the porting project on Github. It appears the Linux port of GCD is moving a little slower than the rest of the components.
  
  For what it’s worth myself and some other individuals are about to start looking more into this to see how we can help move GCD on Linux along.
  
  Reply
  1. javacom says:
    
    June 21, 2016 at 3:31 AM
    
    There is instruction to build libdispatch on Linux, but the steps are for 15.04 only. I have tried them and did not make successfully on 16.04 Raspberry Pi.
    
    https://github.com/apple/swift-corelibs-libdispatch/blob/master/INSTALL
    
    Reply
    1. Joe says:
      
      June 21, 2016 at 6:19 AM
      
      Indeed, and unfortunately I haven’t been able to build it for 15.04 either! I will be hopping on the mailing lists shortly to ascertain what the status of the project is.
      
      Reply
Matt says:

July 19, 2016 at 1:42 PM

wget Link is 404

Reply
1. Joe says:
  
  July 19, 2016 at 4:49 PM
  
  Matt, thanks for bringing that to our attention, we’ve been moving stuff around and the link was out of date. Try again!
  
  Reply
Michael says:

July 23, 2016 at 7:09 AM

Great guide, thanks a lot!

In the bridging example, before compiling, don’t forget to
sudo apt-get install libcurl4-gnutls-dev

For the package manager example: NSThread is now just called Thread

Reply
1. Joe says:
  
  July 23, 2016 at 7:59 AM
  
  You’re welcome Michael! Yes, the Great Renaming effort is in full swing for Swift and a number of APIs are changing. I expect it to continue to churn daily as they rush to meet the goals of releasing Swift 3.0 later this year.
  
  Reply
Fabio says:

August 9, 2016 at 1:10 PM

I’m currently getting “use of unresolved identifier ‘Process'” trying to get process arguments, anyone has any idea?

Reply
1. Joe says:
  
  August 11, 2016 at 3:33 PM
  
  Yes! Swift 3 has changed this to CommandLine. I need to update the tutorials to reflect this!
  
  Reply

Does somebody use OperationQueue?
When i add Operation object declaration to code i get linker error

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationg6_queueXwGSqCS_14OperationQueue_' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operations6_queueXwGSqCS_14OperationQueue_' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationm6_queueXwGSqCS_14OperationQueue_' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationg10_cancelledSb' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operations10_cancelledSb' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationm10_cancelledSb' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationg10_executingSb' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operations10_executingSb' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationm10_executingSb' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationg9_finishedSb' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operations9_finishedSb' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationm9_finishedSb' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationg6_readySb' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operations6_readySb' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationm6_readySb' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationg13_dependenciesGVs3SetS0__' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operations13_dependenciesGVs3SetS0__' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationm13_dependenciesGVs3SetS0__' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operation12_leaveGroupsfT_T_' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operation6finishfT_T_' is not defined locally
/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operation15_waitUntilReadyfT_T_' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationg6_queueXwGSqCS_14OperationQueue_' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operations6_queueXwGSqCS_14OperationQueue_' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationm6_queueXwGSqCS_14OperationQueue_' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationg10_cancelledSb' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operations10_cancelledSb' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationm10_cancelledSb' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationg10_executingSb' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operations10_executingSb' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationm10_executingSb' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationg9_finishedSb' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operations9_finishedSb' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationm9_finishedSb' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationg6_readySb' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operations6_readySb' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationm6_readySb' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationg13_dependenciesGVs3SetS0__' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operations13_dependenciesGVs3SetS0__' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operationm13_dependenciesGVs3SetS0__' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operation12_leaveGroupsfT_T_' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operation6finishfT_T_' is not defined locally

/usr/bin/ld.gold: error: hidden symbol '_TFC10Foundation9Operation15_waitUntilReadyfT_T_' is not defined locally

How to fix it?

AleyRobotics says:

August 30, 2016 at 7:12 AM

to build libdispath try

sudo apt-get install libicu52

1

sudo apt-get install libicu52

it will install swiftCore missing libs

Reply
Eugenio Baglieri says:

October 8, 2016 at 8:04 AM

Is it possible download swift3 stable release for raspberry pi 2?

Reply
1. Joe says:
  
  October 10, 2016 at 8:20 PM
  
  Yes, it is! Just use the lastSuccessfulBuild of the Pi3 build, like this http://swift-arm.ddns.net/job/Swift-3.0-Pi3-ARM-Incremental/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/swift-3.0-2016-10-04-RPi23-ubuntu16.04.tar.gz
  
  Reply
Andrew says:

November 3, 2016 at 10:51 AM

Tried to build swift on my own, failed after several hours. Followed your instructions, had swift running in minutes. Thanks very much!

Reply
1. Joe says:
  
  November 3, 2016 at 8:05 PM
  
  You’re very welcome!!
  
  Reply
Mac says:

November 19, 2016 at 12:45 PM

It’s also possible to run swift-3 on raspian ….
-) install gcc-6
-) install cmake 3.6.2
-) check for https://github.com/apple/swift/pull/5296/commits/09cbffb3e4ed5c4ef8069d273e2d34309abcd2e4

Reply
Scott James Remnant says:

December 7, 2016 at 6:41 PM

lldb and the Swift REPL seem to fail with Illegal Instruction with the current build/current Xenial

Reply
AleyRobotics says:

December 22, 2016 at 9:50 AM

swift package init –type executable
/usr/bin/swift-package: error while loading shared libraries: libicuuc.so.55: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Where to get libicuuc.so.55 file?

Reply
AleyRobotics says:

December 22, 2016 at 10:22 AM

/usr/bin/swift-package: error while loading shared libraries: libicuuc.so.55: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Where to get libicuuc.so.55 file?
Found it! Just download and install it!
https://packages.debian.org/sid/armhf/libicu55/download

Reply
AB says:

January 18, 2017 at 6:50 AM

The DNS address for the download is missing. When I run wget I get this result:
wget: unable to resolve host address ‘swift-arm.ddns.net’

Reply
Yogesh Singh says:

May 10, 2017 at 8:22 AM

wget http://swift-arm.ddns.net/job/Swift-3.0-Pi3-ARM-Incremental/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/swift-3.0-2016-10-21-RPi23-ubuntu16.04.tar.gz

Above link is not working. Getting the below error :-
Resolving swift-arm.ddns.net (swift-arm.ddns.net)… failed: Name or service not known.
wget: unable to resolve host address ‘swift-arm.ddns.net’

Reply
1. Joe says:
  
  May 14, 2017 at 11:07 AM
  
  Thanks Yogesh. Unfortunately from time-to-time I forget to renew the domain. It should be up now.
  
  Reply
  1. AleyRobotics says:
    
    June 12, 2017 at 9:35 AM
    
    Joe looks like it is offline now (((
    
    Reply
Raj Lath says:

July 31, 2017 at 11:55 AM

yes its offline now.
Just hope there is some other mirror or repo somewhere.
Thanks

Reply
1. Joe says:
  
  August 6, 2017 at 9:50 AM
  
  Should be online now.
  
  Reply
  1. AleyRobotics says:
    
    August 6, 2017 at 9:52 AM
    
    It works again! GREAT!
    
    Reply
Matt says:

August 6, 2017 at 12:54 PM

Just in case anybody stumbles upon this and has issues. I was able to successfully install swift 3.1 on my Raspberry Pi 3 through this guide as well. https://www.uraimo.com/2017/05/01/An-update-on-Swift-3-1-1-for-raspberry-pi-zero-1-2-3/

Reply
Raj Lath says:

August 7, 2017 at 6:37 AM

Installation have been flawless.
Add to path variable.
But i am getting cannot execute binary file: Exec format error
I have downloaded and extracted http://swift-arm.ddns.net/job/Swift-3.0-Pi3-ARM-Incremental/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/swift-3.0-2016-12-21-RPi23-ubuntu16.04.tar.gz
Is there any thing that can be done to take care of this issue.

Reply
Stefanos Georgiou says:

September 21, 2017 at 4:49 AM

The command wget http://swift-arm.ddns.net/job/Swift-3.0-Pi3-ARM-Incremental/16/artifact/swift-3.0-2016-07-19-RPi23-ubuntu16.04.tar.gz gives a failed message “No route to host”.
I check my iptables rules for inbound port 80 and the network settings and everything seems fine.
Can I download it from somewhere else?

Reply
AleyRobotics says:

November 21, 2017 at 3:53 AM

its offline again((

Reply
Darren says:

January 10, 2018 at 1:20 AM

Is this still a viable option? The download link is dead.

Reply

Swift 3.0 on Raspberry Pi 2 and 3

Xenial on a Raspberry Pi

Install Swift 3.0

Importing Glibc works!

Bridging to C routines

Swift Package Manager

moreswift

What Version Is This?

Acknowledgements

39 thoughts on “Swift 3.0 on Raspberry Pi 2 and 3”

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